Page 36 of Kingdom of Chaos
“I have a very particular set of skills,” Imogen says, her tone smooth, completely unbothered by the distance he just put between them.
“You mean besides compulsion and general bitchery?” I ask, the words slipping out of my mouth before I think them through.
Imogen shoots me a glare and I smile sweetly in return.
“Aren’t you going to get in trouble for this?” Ensley asks.
Imogen shrugs like it’s no big deal and leans back in her seat. “Yeah, I’ll get a slap on the wrist. Maybe a suspension, but I could use a vacation anyway.”
“Wait a second,” I say. “So you’re telling me you stole one of the Arcane Society’s relics with highly classified information and the worst that will happen is a suspension? Talon only told usabout the Society’s existence and the gates and got thrown out of it. How does that make any sense?”
Imogen narrows her eyes at me and I return the glare.Yeah, I don’t like you either.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Talon says.
A bitter laugh escapes Imogen’s mouth. “You don’t get it,” she practically spits at me. “Talon broke our most sacred rule when he brought you into confidence about the Arcane Society. If you hadn’t forced?—”
“Imogen,” Talon barks, cutting his cousin off. She turns the glare that was directed at me to him. He holds her gaze. “Enough. We should be talking about strategies for moving forward, not looking back.”
She lets out a low growl and I see the tips of her fangs poke into her bottom lip and a flash of red appear in her eyes.
“What’s done is done,” he says, almost softly this time. “Let it go.”
Shaking her head, she shoves him until he lets her out of the booth. She snatches the keys from where Titus rested them on the table and storms out of the diner.
“Should we go after her?” Titus asks, looking like that’s the last thing he wants to do.
Talon shakes his head. “Let her cool off.”
Twelve
The food arrives,and as we dig in Talon tells us everything he knows about the gates, especially the one we’re headed to deep in the swampland. My order takes up a good chunk of the tabletop, and I catch Ensley raising her eyebrows more than once as I demolish everything on my three plates. Even Titus looks like he’s trying not to laugh a few times.
I’m on my fifth slice of bacon when I notice something strange. My plate has more food than I remember. I glance at Talon and spot the telltale movement. He’s been casually sliding some of his bacon onto my plate when I wasn’t looking.
I shoot him a narrow-eyed glare. “Go ahead and make fun of me, but I’m not even mad. If you’re dumb enough to surrender your bacon, then I’m obviously the real winner here.” I point to my face, triumphant, and bite into the salty strip in my hand.
Talon watches my mouth as I chew, and I pretend not to notice that the room feels a couple degrees warmer than it did a moment before.
“I wasn’t making fun of you,” he says, his gaze lifting to meet mine.
Oh. Was he just sharing his food with me to be nice? That’s . . . unexpected.
“I’m just worried that if we don’t keep you fed, you’ll start gnawing on my arm to fill that hollow leg of yours. It’s really just self-preservation.”
A real smile breaks across his face. Genuine, boyish, carefree. It reminds me of the version of him I knew back at Nightlark Academy, before Chaos turned everything upside down.
I chuck the last of my bacon at his face, aiming for his eye, but he snatches it out of the air with his mouth. He grins around the bite as he chews, clearly pleased with himself.
I pout, watching the last piece of bacon disappear. “That was mine.”
Talon shrugs, chewing happily. “Call it payment. You used me as a pillow for four hours. I think I earned it.”
I blink, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I didn’t ask for a pillow.”
He leans in, just enough for his voice to brush against my skin. “Didn’t hear you complaining.”
And just like that, I forget what air tastes like.
